It used to be that blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference.
Then WordPress came along and revolutionized the online publishing world. Now, it’s getting more difficult to tell if a website is being powered by a “blogging” content management system (CMS) like the WordPress CMS, or if it’s been built using a traditional web development software tooltool. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of web design and also being able to tell what’s under the surface.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System application like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the things that the majority of website owners care about, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a fraction of the cost of getting site ”A” above built.
If you chose website ”B” above, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with a stunning website that will typically cost far less to build than websites which use web-building software … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s leading online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a powerful CMS that is ideally suited for ”non-techy” website owners.
Whether your reason for having a digital presence is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a beginner with no programming skills to use and manage, and offers an array of helpful tools that make your web site more effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor interaction, generating business leads and sales, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site could probably be powered by WordPress too.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting one built, then wouldn’t it be great to be able to show your web developer an existing site with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get a similar site built for your business for very little cost?
Was My Website Built Using WordPress? How To Tell
Do you need to know if your website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve read about all of the great advantages of using WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other website application.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are a number of ways to tell if a website has been built using WordPress:
Look At The Page Source Code
If you know how to check the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for obvious telltale footprints that the site was built with WordPress …
(Viewing page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you visit a web site that you like, and you would like to know if the site runs on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the page’s source code, you can search for the words “wp-content” either by visually scanning the code …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot find “wp-content” in the source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site was built using WordPress, as we will soon be discussing.
As the point of this post is to try and help non “techies”, however, below you will find a number of easier methods you can use to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Simply Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the logical thing to do, some website developers, for whatever reason, will build their clients a website and not tell them it’s been built with WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you can’t tell what application is driving it, just ask your developer or whoever built your site if your site was built using WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a website that you really like while browsing online and want to know if the site was built using WordPress?
Powered By WordPress
If the site uses a WP theme and the templates have not been customized, you can often see a “Proudly powered by WordPress” notice showing at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress – footer section)
If the methods above aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Online Tools That Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a some online applications that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
IsItWP.com – WP Checking Tool
(IsItWP.com)
Is It WP? is a free online tool that tells you if a site runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really simple. Just type the URL of the site into the search field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go and search through the URL code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site is not a WordPress web site or blog, you will get a message like the one below …
To use this tool, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer
(Wappalyzer – Web Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome))
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Google Chrome browsers and want to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are WP sites, then Wappalyzer is a useful extension for your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what type of software is installed in the sites you are visiting.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
Wappalyzer is also very easy to install.
After installing the Wappalyzer extension on your browser, icons will display in your browser menu, in the URL field identifying which technologies are installed on the sites you visit …
If the WordPress icon displays on the browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site uses WordPress.
(This is a WordPress site!)
Visit the Wappalyzer add-on website here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, visit the site below:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, go here:
I hope that you have found this information useful.
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